After Ken was sucked into the secret realm:
"Serene Lotus Sect! I know it's you, come out of your hiding!"
The female grand elder, Zara, yelled after her technique was blocked by the black fog. Unlike Trenton, she could recognize the source of this technique.
"Haha, Lady Zara. I'm honored a beautiful lady like yourself can recognize my technique."
Elmer appeared in the sky at an equal height. Soon, 2 more grand elders of the Four Seasons Sect stood by Zara's side and Trenton long left the scene, letting those with more authority and power deal with the situation.
"What's the meaning of this, Elmer? Is the Serene Lotus Sect so overbearing it can do anything it wants in this continent?"
An old man questioned with a frowning expression. They just took heavy damage from this war, and many promising youths died. In those 10 minutes in which Ken used Frenzy Domain before they arrived, their sect was attacked by the Divine Sword Sect, the sects allied with the Divine Sword Sect, and the sects allied with themselves.
The war escalated fast, and although there wasn't a death count yet, the bodies littering the area were abundant enough to testify to the huge loss. The sect didn't have an endless number of disciples despite being large.
"Haha, we wouldn't dare do that. We didn't know whether the secret realm would close once its opener died outside. Wouldn't it be a waste for the sacrifice of 10,000 of your disciples?"
Elmer explained with a confident smile before diverting their attention to the more important topic at stake.
"Anyway, you're wasting your time, shouldn't you hurry up and send your disciples inside before it's too late?"
The three grand elders shared a glance before agreeing that arguing came last. First, they had to seize the opportunity to get the wealth of a top sect.
"As far as we know only cultivators from your sect were there when the Bloodthirst Sect fell. Haven't you looted everything by now?"
They squinted their eyes in suspicion, but Elmer just shrugged it off.
"We were, and their elders ascended to the Immortal Realm. They set this secret realm as immortals, meaning only immortals can barge inside. We don't have any immortals, and anyone that got to that stage had more important things to do with their time before the heavens force them to ascend."
Whenever someone broke through and became immortal, the heavens let them remain in their old realm for 24 hours before pulling them to the Immortal Realm forcibly.
Mostly those people used this time to say goodbye to those close to them and write some of their experiences during their breakthroughs in the hope it can be of aid to the next generations. None of them had time to search for hidden secret realms of other immortals and barge inside.
"Trenton, assemble the best of our fifth-stage disciples and send them into the secret realm. I want 3000 disciples to be dispatched. Also, send 2 of the 4 that fulfill the conditions. The three of us will stand guard until everything is concluded."
Zara gave orders to Trenton to take care of the arrangements. She didn't send any fourth-stage disciples since they lost most of their top 1000 disciples along with thousands more. She'd later send some of the core disciples that wanted to take part.
"Benjamin, you do the same. You can also let any fourth-stage cultivator join if they're interested, up to 1000. Give priority to the stronger ones. We will stay guard here as well."
A grand elder from the Divine Sword Sect also appeared by now and gave similar orders. He emphasized the part about allowing fourth-stage cultivators to enter just to ridicule the Four Seasons Sect for not being able to do the same.
"Oh, here my disciples are. I can remain here to keep guard with you old coots!"
Elmer said in a cheerful tone as 3 airships could be seen flying at top speed toward them, eliciting a frown from all 6 grand elders. To make sure they understand he wasn't alone, Theodore revealed himself and stood by his side.
"Hey there, I'm here too."
"Do as you wish. However, your head start amounts to nothing; the portal is still closed to everyone."
It was true. Nobody could enter the portal ever since Ken was teleported inside. They didn't know what was going inside, but they wanted to station their disciples in front of the portal so they could enter right when the access was free.
Two hours later, the portal was encircled by a fleet of 8 airships. Among them, three proudly bore the emblem of a white-pink lotus on their banners, another three displayed a banner depicting a towering, sharp sword, and the remaining two showcased an emblem featuring a combination of a cloud, sun, leaf, and flower.
The disciples of the Divine Sword Sect wore yellow, those of the Four Seasons Sect wore black, and the ones coming from the Serene Lotus Sect wore green. Around 20% of each group also wore white, indicating their status as core disciples.
"Haha, we hope that the esteemed top five sects didn't plan to leave us out of this ordeal. We would be very saddened if you guys forgot us."
A sinister laughter reverberated in the volcanic belt. Everyone quickly saw a group of 30 cultivators appearing nearby followed by incoming 10 airships.
"Evil beings! Aren't you afraid we will kill you all?"
"Not at all. We formed an alliance just for the occasion when we heard the strongest evil sect's inheritance was revealed. We will never miss the chance."
A man with red hair and eyes darker than the abyss smiled confidently. Each of the airships carried a different emblem. This was the alliance of the strongest 10 evil sects in the continent.
"Damn spies."
One of the Divine Sword Sect grand elders cursed under his breath, but they couldn't afford to open war. If they did, the casualties would be high, and the weaker disciples will not survive. Besides, they'd have to call reinforcements to take care of 30 eighth-stage evil cultivators.
8 additional hours passed, and the portal was still quiet, offering no changes. Right when everyone turned annoyed at the lack of response, the portal suddenly viberated.
"Disciples, heed my words! Work together to resist and kill the devils from the evil sects! I don't want to be told later that you broke the rules of war inside!"
Elders from the three righteous sects gave similar orders. The meaning was clear; kill the weaker stages, but don't leave any evidence behind.
The portal reopened, and young cultivators from 18 airships started storming inside.
It didn't take long for the word to reach the ears of the Peaceful Demon Sect and Infinite Wisdom Sect, and the two sent their disciples, albeit a few hours late.
'Maybe they will find out about the mysterious disappearance.'
The grand elders thought to themselves as they watched the young cultivators rush inside. It was buried as a secret, but on the same day that the 7 elders of the Bloodthirst Sect disappeared, assumingly ascended, 7 supreme elders of righteous sects disappeared as well.
The obvious conclusion was that these elders had a double identity, but the righteous sects made sure to bury this incident, too ashamed to investigate and find out the horrifying truth.
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The end of Volume 3 – Sects Wars
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